This invention relates generally to food additives and supplements and, more particularly, to structured lipid mixtures, to a process for their production and to their use in human nutrition, more particularly for controlling weight.
In recent years, special triglycerides with C chain lengths of 6 to 10 carbon atoms—known as medium-chain triglycerides (MCTs)—have acquired growing significance because they reduce the uptake of fats in human nutrition and increase both the burning of fat and the metabolization rate. In practical application, too, structured lipids have many advantages over “normal” natural lipids, albeit dependent to a large extent on the particular application. Typical examples are                establishment of optimal physical properties (for example in margarine, confectionery fats, CBE)        creation of a special triglyceride molecule (for example in the case of OPO triglycerides for infant nutrition)        highly concentrated TGs for the administration of active fatty acids (for example triglycerides based on conjugated linoleic acid, docosahexaene carboxylic acid or eicosapentaenoic acid)        rapid energy supply (MCTs and lipids containing medium-chain fatty acids)        reduced-calorie lipids (for example salatrim, caprenin) and dietetic oils with a structure-based effect (for example Enova oil, MCT-based lipids)        lipids with accelerated absorption (shown for lipids with medium-chain fatty acids)        
For the reasons mentioned, it has been consistently proposed in the literature to replace conventional “less healthy” edible oils, for example sunflower oil, olive oil or thistle oil, with “particularly healthy” MCTs. However, this has proved to be extremely difficult in practice because, to benefit from the advantageous properties of MCTs, an average adult would have to take an average dose of 20 g/day. However, this is already of the order of the average daily intake of edible oils, i.e. there would then be no room for more oils.
The complex problem addressed by the present invention was to provide an oil for daily use                which would have a healthy composition according to recommendations from nutritionists in regard to        a sufficient percentage content of essential fatty acids such as, for example, conjugated linoleic acid (CLA) or omega-3 or omega-6 fatty acids,        a ω-6/Ω-3 ratio in the oil of 5:1 to 1:1.        a high percentage content of oleic acid of more than 20 mol- % and        a low percentage content of saturated and trans fatty acids (excluding the essential fatty acids),        which, at the same time, would have an active character in relation to reducing percentage body fat promoted by        a high percentage content of directly metabolizable medium-chain fatty acids        a recommended dose of effective CLA isomers        and which would be absorbed particularly well through a high percentage content of structured triglycerides with one or two medium-chain acyl groups in the oil.        
Another requirement to be satisfied by the products to be provided by the invention would be that they would be similar to known edible oils in their physicochemical behavior, for example in their cloud point, smoke point, oxidation stability and viscosity. Another problem addressed by the present invention was to produce the structured lipid in a sensory quality comparable with that of the usual edible oils.
A final problem addressed by the invention was to provide “gentle” production processes for the structured lipids which would enable high-quality products to be produced.